Pep Guardiola – His impact on Bayern
The Spanish manager is going into his third year at Bayern Munich with the contract running out next summer. As of now, Pep has not made yet – he simply doesn’t think an early contract extension is necessary. At Barcelona, Guardiola only signed one year contract extensions. There is absolutely no need to rush it, although club legends are demanding a timely decision. There is a lot of pressure on the Catalan in his (maybe) final year in Germany. Without winning the Champions League, most football or Bayern fans would consider him a flop, totally neglecting his philosophical and tactical impact. We will take a closer look at this.
First season in Munich
On 24 June 2013 he held his very first press conference with Bayern, most of it in surprisingly good German. Guardiola has repeatedly said that he has adept to the team not the other way around. It’s not easy to take over a team which had just won the treble and you’re expected to make them even better. Pep made no demand of signing a certain big name player like it was rumored, this being Neymar. However, Mario Götze and Thiago Alcantara were brought in for 37 million Euros and 25 million Euros respectively. Götze had repeatedly shown his outstanding ability for his age in all competition for Dortmund, while Thiago didn’t feature in enough games for his contractual 90 million Euros release clause to trigger – a bargain. Both substained injuries early into their Bayern career and missed most of pre-season. A big blow for both manager players.
On 27 July 2013 the team had their first competitive game in the German Supercup against Dortmund losing 2-4 to Klopp’s side. Not really a big deal, no manager can make things work within a month at his new club. He added a 4-1-4-1 system with one defensive midfielder pulling the strings and quickly discovering Lahm’s quality to link up defense and attack. At first there were a lot of critics of moving the, arguably, best right-back in the world to midfield when Pep had Schweinsteiger and Kroos for the position.
Guardiola deploying Lahm as the orchestrator from deep with short and quick passes. Later in the season putting Kroos there.
Depending on opposition Guardiola varied between Heynckes’ 4-2-3-1 and a new 4-1-4-1 with smaller space between lines allowing the team to play quick football in condensed areas. In December 2013 the club managed to win its second title, the FIFA club world cup, after winning the UEFA Supercup against Chelsea in late August. Manager and team clicked very quickly and were crowned the earliest Bundesliga champions of all time. Bayern were steam rolling through Bundesliga and their Champions League group. Bayern faced Real Madrid in the semifinals but lost 5-0 on aggregate. Not to anyone’s surprise, the first real doubters appeared saying Guardiola’s football is based too much around possession instead of playing fast football. Tough with a striker of Mandzukic’s type who isn’t that good with the ball at his feet and the necessary hold up play. In the DFB-Pokal the club made it to the final against Dortmund with Guardiola fielding his squad in a 343. The players dealt rather well with BVB’s counter attacks, Boateng and Martinez putting in a shift in defense and trying to beat Dortmund with their own weapons – counter attacks. Müller and Robben scoring the winning goals in extra time. A system the manager would apply a lot more in the future.
A good debut season for the Catalan in Munich. It simply wasn’t realistic to expect he’d replicate what Heynckes achieved the year before. Winning the treble is the maximum, you can only ‘disappoint’ as the successor.
Refinement and another disappointment in CL
That summer Germany managed to win the 2014 World Cup, thus meaning a lot of players missed the first weeks of preseason. Not an ideal start to Guardiola’s second year at the Bavarian club. On top of that, the likes of Toni Kroos (Real Madrid CF), Mario Mandzukic (Atlético Madrid) and long-serving Daniel van Buyten (Retirement) left the club. Despite these sales, sights were set high as the club brought in even more quality. Roberto Lewandowski, Medhi Benatia, Xabi Alonso and Juan Bernat looked like great acquisitions by Bayern, clearly outweighing the loss of Kroos and Mandzukic.
It’s all about preparation and changing it up to keep the opposition on their toes, that’s why Guardiola used 9 different formations in the first half of the Bundesliga season alone. Pep also utilized many players in different positions, keeping opposing managers guessing what he might have in store this week. German media gave this a certain nickname - ‘The Chameleon FC Bayern’. A team that can adjust to any team they’re facing with the opposition not knowing what they’ll face. Munich have never been so variable in their tactics, all credit to Pep Guardiola. Until the winter break the club only lost one game, against Manchester City in the Champions League after previously smashing AS Roma 7-1 in Italy and 2-0 at home and comfortably topping the group. Rummenigge and Sammer have repeatedly voiced their desire to extend the manager’s contract early on but the Catalan never spared a thought of rushing a contract extension.
All new signings had fit in quickly and delivered every week, Alonso broke several records, Bernat played as if he’s been in Munich for years and even Rode had great displays. Lewandowski came out of the blocks well considering he played in a vastly different system with him not being the only finisher in attack. It was probably not the right choice by Guardiola that the Polish striker had to drift out wide to make space for Müller and Robben but after all it worked. He had all the attributes to be the striker in a squad managed by Pep. It’s about a lot more than just putting the ball in the net - the reason why Mandzukic didn’t work out. Lewandowski’s hold up play and passing are one of the best in football, not to speak of his excellent ability on the ball. However, he didn’t play every match simply because of the competition and quality in Bayern’s side.
In January 2015 Müller made a pretty audacious statement saying Bayern’s practice matches under Guardiola were more demanding than actual matches in Bundesliga or Champions League, just to lose 4-1 to Wolfsburg one week later – not the smartest decision Müller made in recent history. One of the five defeats they had to suffer throughout the Bundesliga season, and like last year losing focus on later games because the title was already wrapped up. In the DFB-Pokal seminfals against Dortmund? A loss on penalties with Langerak saving all four of Bayern’s, admittedly, terrible penalties. Guardiola and his team were drawn against FC Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals, the future winners of the competition and the club he dominated football with for several years. With Alaba, Ribéry and Robben out for both legs, Bayern were significantly weakened but undoubtedly still a good enough team to compete with Luis Enrique’s side. One man decided the draw in the end – Lionel Messi who was back to his very best. Some say Boateng is still unsure what happened to his feet when the Argentine turned him inside out and finished with a beautiful chip over Neuer. Pep’s team put up a good game in the second leg but weren’t able to turn it around, losing 5-2 on aggregate. Another loss in the semifinals, giving his doubters new ammunition to question his ability. He would never mention it, but the three players were sorely missed in those two games. Not the first big injuries Munich struggled with that season which resulted in club icon and well respected Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt and his team stepping down from their positions.
Alonso in the ‘quarterback role’ under Pep Guardiola, sitting next to Boateng and Benatia when Bayern were attacking. Attack constantly interchanging their positions.
Up until the two games against FC Barcelona papers and journalists were all over Guardiola’s managerial genius and his new innovations but all of a sudden the Catalan wasn’t good enough for Bayern anymore. Simply being Guardiola, he has to win the Champions League every season – a competition with eight different winners in the last ten years. He has made some mistakes in line-ups or tactics but learned and will learn from it. Start to this new season is evidence for that.
Further tactical additions and renovated squad
It was a rather successful summer in terms of transfers for FC Bayern. Bringing in Arturo Vidal, Douglas Costa, Sven Ulreich and two great prospects in Joshua Kimmich and Kingsley Coman. Older players like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Dante, Pepe Reina and Claudio Pizarro left. Secretly Bayern have renovated their squad and look set for the years to come. Apart from Ulreich, of course he’s got Manuel Neuer in front of him, all have done very well for their new club so far. Especially the Brazilian Douglas Costa looks to be one of the best buys in the club’s recent history. It’s very early into the season but he’s been an absolute nightmare for every full-back facing him, racking up ten assists in 8 Bundesliga games already. Guardiola deserves a lot of credit for his immediate impact, making slight changes to the side. The team plays even wider, swinging in a lot more crosses, defending as a unit and utilizing Lewandowski and Müller much better. A system that wouldn’t work Götze or Robben on the wing as they cut in too much on their preferred foot. Lewandowski has scored 16 goals in 11 games in all competitions, including his five goals in nine minutes against Wolfsburg. The Pole has been in incredible form, scoring 15 goals in his last six games for club and country – madness. His partner in attack Thomas Müller also benefits from it, chipping in with with 10 goals in 11 games. Alonso was awful in the second half of the 2014/2015 because of getting massively overplayed but seems to have regained full strength again.
Bayern’s spacing against Leverkusen allowed them to counter Leverkusen’s pressing. Seamless transition from defense to attack with Alonso switching from centre-back to defensive midfielder.
Pep’s side had no big issues with Leverkusen’s pressing and unleashed Douglas Costa on the helpless Roberto Hilbert, who was at fault on the first goal and two penalties later – first two scored by Müller and the third by Robben. Bayern’s pressure was also too much for Darmstadt and Mainz, both sitting back but simply not being able to cope with Bayern’s constant attacking. Too much to handle for most sides that have faced Bayern thus far. A team that won’t stop until the referee blows for the final whistle - reminiscent of Heynckes’ treble winning side back in 2012/2013.
It all looks good for Bayern so far but will they finally a Champions League with Guardiola? Should this trophy decide if Pep’s time at Bayern was successful or not? It shouldn’t, the man has introduced a tactical variability that will still help Bayern in the far future, a performance level in practice that pushes every player to the edge, knowing they have to bring it every single day and a mentality of always wanting more.
As Klopp has said looking back on his time at Dortmund: “It doesn’t matter what people think when you’re manager, it’s more important what they think when you’ve left.” Very fitting words for Guardiola’s career at Bayern, because after he’s gone that’s when people realise what he’s brought to this club. It’s not just about the amount of titles a manager has won, it’s about leaving a legacy as well.